of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 229 
the curve was at 25cm. The third group consisted of a few specimens, 
mostly between 32cm. and 35cm. (122-132 inches), and apparently 
extending to about 40cm., and no doubt represented the spawning shoal. 
A collection off Lybster, on the coast of Caithness, on 22nd October, 
1903, yielded a number of various groups. The small-meshed net around 
the cod-end was ruptured, and only contained 4 haddocks. The first 
Series was represented by 4 fishes, 12cm. and 13cm. The second group 
extended from 21'4cm to 29cm. (84-113 inches); most were between 
25cm. and 27cm., the apex of the curve was at 26cm., and the mean was 
about 26°5cm., or 104 inches. The smaller members of the group were 
not present in normal numbers. 
The next group extended from about 29cm., apparently, to 36cm. 
(114-142 inches); most were aggregated between 3lcm. and 34cm., the 
apex of the curve was at 32cm., and the mean was about 32'5cm., or 12? 
inches. 
It may be noted that in the curve of this group, as in the curves for the 
collection from Aberdeen Bay on 3lst October, and for the collection 
from Smith Bank on Ist April, the descending slope is interrupted, 
suggestive of a division. It is better shown in ‘5cm., as below:— 
Cm. 32 32:5 33 33°5 34 34:5 35.355 36 36°5 
Q 22 2 27 29 20 27 31 16 18 9 
31st October) 
i 7 AG AGT TG) aI MY 6. 44 8 
5 Gn 204 Wii S714, 45 S00 549 |. S80 28,99. 17 
Ist April . 5 BR Bebe Bah © Ap) MO PORE A Sh nd 5 
22nd October . 34 D2 too S44 of 5 40820) 2d 7 
At this size (reproductive) growth is slower and the fusion of the groups 
greater, and it is quite likely that the division indicated is a real one. 
WHITING (Gadus merlangus). 
Twenty-one collections of whitings were measured, most of them taken 
in the Moray Firth, the number being 8346, which, with those contained 
in my previous papers, makes about 58,000 of this species measured. 
The results as regards growth are confirmatory of the conclusions pre- 
viously reached, and the collections may be briefly referred to. 
Six collections were obtained from the Dornoch Firth, as shown in Table 
XXIII. The first was on 22nd October, 1903, and it comprised 233 
whitings, taken in from 6 or 7 to 13 fathoms. The smallest was 51mm. 
(2 inches), and the largest of the first series, to which almost all the 
specimens belonged, was apparently 176mm. (72 inches). The great 
majority of the fishes were aggregated between 9cm. and 13cm., the apex 
of the curve, or point of greatest aggregation, being llem., which was 
also the mean between the limits named; the arithmetical average was 
about 105‘6mm. The average size of these whitings was thus about 4} 
inches. ‘I'wo specimens of 21cm. and 22cm. probably represent a second 
series, and there is a third at 36cm. 
The next collection, on 11th November, comprised 421 whitings, all 
but one (at 27cm.) apparently belonging to the same series. The smallest 
measured 58mm. (24 inches) and the largest 194mm. (73 inches); most 
were aggregated between 10cm. and 14cm., the apex of the curve being 
at 12cm., which was also the mean, while the computed average was 
approximately 120°5cm. (4? inches). 
